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In early April, "National Treasure" officially withdrew from the North American theatrical market, and although Matthew did not attend the Golden Sour Plum Award before the Oscars like Halle Berry, the film's professional reputation has been declining.

As of the end of the film, the Rotten Tomatoes website, which specializes in collecting film critics' film reviews as the basis, has dropped to 45% of the freshness of Rotten Tomatoes.

In fact, on the contrary, this family-friendly entertainment film with a good audience reputation ranked seventh in the 2004 North American box office with a North American box office of $225.6 million, beating the $186.7 million of Twentieth Century Fox's "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Spy 2" with $172.64 million.

With a production cost of $100 million and a North American box office of $225.6 million, "National Treasure" can be described as a great success.

And the film's overseas box office performance is also quite good, so far it has appeared in the film market in nearly 100 countries and regions, and the overseas box office has exceeded 200 million US dollars, with as much as 243.2 million US dollars.

So far, "National Treasure" has accumulated $468.2 million at the global box office.

Although the film has not yet been released in some overseas countries, the rest are still being screened in markets such as the Faroe Islands and Haiti, and the box office is better than nothing.

The film is unlikely to end up grossing more than $500 million worldwide.

But the figure of $468.2 million is enough to make everyone involved in the film laugh from ear to ear.

Even if "National Treasure" has a poor professional reputation, it still can't change the fact that it is a commercial success, and Matthew has once again proved his market value in action films.

Disney Studios is also a little troubled because of Walt Disney's relationship and can't care about the sequel for the time being, but Jerry Bruckheimer Films, one of the film's producers, has put the sequel to "National Treasure" on the agenda, and someone has made initial contact with Helen Herman.

Helen Herman was not polite at all, given Matthew's successive box office successes, coupled with the sequel's pay markup rule, she directly told Jerry Bruckheimer Films representatives that without a $20 million salary, Matthew's sequel actor contract would not need to be negotiated.

Subsequently, there was no news from Jerry Bruckheimer Films, and according to Matthew's speculation, it is estimated that he will have to wait for Disney Pictures' attitude before making plans.

"National Treasure" achieved a global box office of nearly $500 million, which was definitely good news for Matthew, and at the same time another good news came to the table.

Zack Schneider, who was far away in New York, called Matthew, and the preview footage he produced was finally approved by Frank Miller, and after being persuaded by a PR specialist hired by Helen Herman, plus the promise that his actor's last film would be a box office hit, Frank Miller agreed in principle to negotiate the licensing of "The Three Hundred Spartans" with Zack Snyder and Matthew.

"Negotiations will not take place immediately. ”

In the office of the Angel Agency, Helen Herman lifted her black-rimmed glasses and said, "My people have heard that Frank Miller won't be negotiating with us until the end of April at the earliest. ”

Matthew was a little strange, "Why is that?"

"You've been putting all your energy into Charlize Theron lately?" Helen Herman reminded, "Sin City just released on April 1 and has a lot of word-of-mouth, and when the box office and word-of-mouth of this film continue to rise, Frank Miller will have to ask for a higher price." ”

Matthew patted his head, "I ignored Sin City." ”

Helen Herman glanced at him, "You and Charlize Theron had better protect themselves, or you'll be in trouble." ”

"Don't worry. Matthew said directly, "She's even more security-conscious than I am." ”

He pulled the deflection back on track and asked, "How much do you estimate the royalties will be?"

"It's hard to say. Helen Herman thought for a moment and said, "Nowadays, in Hollywood's commercial films, the number of successful original genres is becoming less and less, and film adaptations are getting more and more attention from major companies, and the royalties for those popular, comic or other suitable adaptations have at least doubled compared to before 2000." ”

"yes. Matthew nodded, "We can't change the environment. ”

In today's Hollywood, if a screenwriter who has not mixed up with Mingtang and goes to a film company with an original commercial script, the probability of being enabled is negligible.

Like Simon Kinberg, without the advice and recommendation of Aziva Gossman, a producer and an Oscar-winning screenwriter, Summit Entertainment would have taken on a script like "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" unless it was crazy.

But with Aziva Gosman's recommendation, the situation is completely different.

Helen Herman then said, "The cost of adaptation has risen, which is really a headache. She sighed lightly, "My guy tested Frank Miller, and his bottom line was $8 million, which was double what we expected. ”

Matthew frowned, this is definitely not a small number.

Helen Herman's words are not finished, "With the current situation in the Hollywood industry, Frank Miller will still ask for a later share." ”

"Do you want to divide it later?" Matthew suddenly felt that he and Zack Snyder were going to be ripped off.

"Don't be surprised, and don't be surprised. Helen Herman is very calm, ""Sin City" currently has a very good reputation, and it is not a professional reputation, and the fan reputation is also very good, in the past, the circle thought that Frank Miller's personal style was too strong and not suitable for film adaptation, so "Sin City" and "Spartan Three Hundred Warriors" are very famous, but there has been no film company adaptation. ”

Matthew understood what she meant, "Now the situation has changed, Sin City is almost certain to be a success, and in the style of major Hollywood companies, there will definitely be people who will take a fancy to Frank Miller's other works." ”

He suddenly thought of something, "Zack Schneider has already found Frank Miller with a preview clip, and Frank Miller hasn't made a statement until now, Frank Miller should be deliberately delaying, right?"

"It's definitely intentional. Helen Herman is very sure of this, "even if Frank Miller himself couldn't have imagined that his agent would have asked him to do so." ”

Matthew stood up, walked back and forth, frowned, and said, "Frank Miller is completely in control, and that can't be changed. ”

Helen Herman nodded slightly, "That's true. ”

"It's okay to say that the later division is good. Matthew paced back and forth, his thoughts gradually becoming clear, "The increased adaptation license fee is the trouble." ”

Speaking of which, Matthew discovered that he and Zack Snyder had no experience in running films at all, and even Helen Herman had very little experience in this area, ignoring a lot of important issues.

Especially in terms of funding, they only planned a quota of four million dollars.

He turned his head to look at Helen Herman, "As far as I know, Zack Schneider doesn't have so much money in his hands, and his salary for directing "Dawn of the Living Dead" is only a few hundred thousand dollars, all of which are thrown into the production of preview clips, and most of the salary he earned as a commercial and MV director before has become fixed assets. ”

This is something that Zack Schneider specifically mentioned when he was discussing the production of a preview clip.

Matthew stretched out his finger and pointed at himself, "I don't have that much money either, and most of the money I earn has also become fixed assets. We originally envisioned that $3 million to $4 million would be enough for the adaptation, and now ......"

He shook his head, unless he sold the Apple stock in his hand, but at this time, he knew that it was extremely stupid to liquidate the Apple stock, even if he didn't know about investment and financial markets.

Apple stock is one of the guarantees for his future, even if he becomes the king of bad movies like Nicolas Cage, he can still live freely.

Helen Herman also stood up, and like Matthew, took a few steps back and forth, and said, "Actually, there is a way. ”

"Huh?" Matthew asked, looking at her, "What's the solution? ”

"We pulled in a film production company and negotiated with Frank Miller together. Helen Herman said slowly, "Let the film company pay for the rights to "The Three Hundred Warriors of Sparta." ”

Hearing this, Matthew was first overjoyed, and then felt that it was wrong, and asked, "The film production company gets the rights, and they have the initiative, and if they oppose Zack Schneider's direction and don't agree to me starring, then it's bad......"

Helen Herman continued, "It's not impossible. She thought for a moment and then said, "It's not without checks and balances, for example, we negotiated terms with Frank Miller first, and reached an agreement that he stipulated in the licensing transfer agreement that the director must be Zack Snyder, and the actor must be you." ”

Matthew thought about it for a moment and said, "It's difficult, isn't it?"

Helen Herman nodded, "It should be very difficult, if Frank Miller knows that Zack Schneider and you simply don't have enough money in their hands, it is very likely to skip us and negotiate directly with the studio." ”

Following Helen Herman's strategy, Matthew is confident that with the box office results of the films he starred in recently, it is unlikely that the production company and Frank Miller will kick him out, but Zack Schneider is hard to say, after all, he has only directed one film.

"The Three Hundred Warriors of Sparta" has such a strong personal style, without Zack Snyder, Matthew really doesn't have the courage to try.

Helen Herman then said, "There is another way! If we can find an investor, not a film company, if they are willing to pay for it, the lack of funds will be solved, and even the production costs will be solved." ”

"Investors?" Matthew immediately remembered the one who invested in the filming of "Tales of the Night", but the other party didn't seem to be particularly rich.

Then he thought of another candidate and leaned into Helen Herman's ear and whispered something in his ear.

"Give it a try. Helen Herman said, "No, there's the mortgage road." ”